By defintion, the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way and or the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.

Everyone has that person in their life who "always plays the victim." When something goes wrong it's "never their fault" and if you try to challenge them on the issue they get all "high and mighty" on you.

They're the type of person who does something wrong then tries to paint you as being the real problem for calling them out. Because their bad deed was just them making things even.

These people can be impossible to deal with because they're never wrong. This mentality also stunts their developmental growth, because when you're never wrong, you don't have to change a thing.

What if we all learned at a young age that our traumas don't have to define us? That it's possible to have experienced a trauma and for victimhood to not form the core of our identity? That it's even possible to grow from trauma, to become a better person, to use the experiences we've had in our lives toward working to instill hope and possibility to others who were in a similar situation? What if we all learned that it's possible to have healthy pride for an in-group without having out-group hate?

By coming to the concrete realization that this form of victim mentality is real, it gives sufferers a greater ability to realize that they are living with an unhealthy personal construct that can be altered. It also gives those of us who have to deal with these people a better way to understand these frustrating people.

To reiterate the underlying dynamics of this problem, many people adopt the victim role, unintentionally because they are afraid of their anger, deny its existence in themselves, project it onto other people, and anticipate aggression or harm from them. With this expectation and high sensitivity to anger in others, they may even distort other people’s facial expressions, imagining that they have malicious intentions. The anger that they would have experienced in response to frustration or stress is transformed into fear and distrust of others and into feelings of being hurt or wounded.

It's okay to enjoy others success you see on social media but understand that they curating their posts - that's not really their real life. 

So many people get overly consumed on how people portray their lives in the digital world vs. real world, this can be very dangerous in ones life. 

To me, top social media platforms are like video games, cool at first and some time but then you could realize that most of your life is consumed by it. Now don't get me wrong, some gamers make it out to be a career and make some good dough but on average, the gamers are just obsessed and or enjoying themselves (maybe a little too much) 

What happens when a person wants to look a certain way and they scroll through their feed and or following specific people that they gravitate too and begin to imagine how it would be to look like that. Disregarding valid information given to them for there own well being, they merely hold on to the words of that influencer - which they have no background in the health and fitness industry besides looking the part. I mean when someone looks the part and talks the part, it's kinda hard not to believe them unless you know of what they speak of is total bs.

Your regular overweight person will not pick up on signs of being lied too because they are desperate to achieve what they want and so it's like taking candy from a baby with such influencers in the market, it's very well a perfect recipe for them to be doing what they do on social media to only treat people as human beings rather then a dollar figure.

If someone is guaranteeing you fast and sustainable results in months time - they are bull shitting you ! Weight and fat loss is not a fast process - it's messy, frustrating, stressful, hard work and most of all a long term process. Everyone will have different rates of speed with their results but what matters is your own journey heading towards your goal, because though that person finished the race a lot faster then you - can that person continue to do the same rate for the next goal and the so on. 

It's quite crazy to think that with the internet available at any given time, people are too lazy to do their own due diligence on who to hire for help and what to believe in about achieving their goal. I mean if you don't have the time to do your homework on the information needed to get help then the least you can do is do your homework on who you choose to hire to change your life for the better.

Social media can be either a weapon or a tool and unfortunately in the health and fitness industry it's an influencers dream $$$$$$

If you weigh yourself every morning, you probably notice that the number on the scale can change significantly from one day to the next.

Sometimes the reason for the daily weight fluctuation is obvious. Perhaps you indulged in a big meal before bedtime that resulted in weight gain, or you did a very sweaty workout that resulted in weight loss. But there are other reasons that weight fluctuations occur from day to day.

If you are trying to lose weight or change your body composition, you might be tempted to believe that the daily weight fluctuation is due to fat loss or fat gain. That is a possibility. But there are many other factors that affect your weight from day to day.

up to 5lbs weight shift is typical for most people day-to-day, but that the number on the scale can change by as much as 20 pounds depending on your body size. So why the big swing? And what causes these frustrating weight fluctuations from day to day? These factors contribute to an increase or decrease on the scale.

High-salt foods ​can cause water retention. The extra water adds up to pounds on the scale. Some people are very sodium sensitive and may retain more water, while others are less sensitive. sodium can hide in unexpected places. Cold cuts, frozen meals, and savory sauces are often high in sodium. Canned soup is another common culprit. Many varieties of low-calorie soup are very high in sodium.

If you love bread, pasta, rice, and other starchy carbs, the weight gain you see on the scale may be related to your carb intake. For every gram of carbohydrate you consume, your body retains about three grams of water in order to store the fuel source.

For that reason, if you eat a very high carbohydrate meal, your body weight is likely to increase because of the water weight, not because of increased fat. In addition, many ​refined carbohydrate foods are also high in sodium.

You’re likely to see some fluctuations on the scale due to bowel movements.

Exercise can cause you to sweat and lose water weight.

Certain medications may cause you to gain weight. Some increase your appetite, some may cause you to retain water, 

Most women notice some degree of bloating from fluid retention immediately before and during their menstrual period. 

Alcohol is a diuretic, so it is possible that you could notice an immediate weight decrease if you end up urinating more than usual while drinking.

When should you be concerned about daily weight changes? If the number on the scale continues to increase or stays elevated for more than five to seven days, then it may be an indicator of a medical concern. Or it may show increased body mass. But keep in mind that both muscle and fat increase your mass, so your weight gain may be due to muscle growth.

Each time you eat a meal, your metabolism, or more specifically metabolic rate, increases. That's because all the processes for digestion and absorption require energy and blood flow. Since increasing your metabolic rate means expending energy and generating heat, this phenomenon is called the 'thermic effect of food.

More recently this viewpoint, studies suggests a protocol that calls for the individual to fast for an extended period of time (usually 16 – 18 hr) and then eat their remaining calories within a given window that usually follows an exercise. This is commonly known as intermittent fasting and has gained a lot of popularity over the past 10 – 15 years, both from fitness enthusiasts and researchers alike. Within the concept of intermittent fasting there are multiple different fasting protocols, most of which are aimed at reducing bodyweight.

One such popular protocol entails complete fasting for 24 hr, followed by feeding the following day—this is termed alternate day fasting (ADF). For the sake of simplicity, this review will regard intermittent fasting as any dietary protocol that encompasses the lower end of meal frequency (i.e., 1 – 2 meals per day) with prolonged periods of fasting in between. While both methods of dieting—intermittent fasting diet protocol—promote weight loss, neither have ever defied the one ultimate successful weight loss program: “calories in – calories out = weight loss (or gain).”

In other words, both ways of dieting work because they reduce caloric intake relative to expenditure and thereby induce a caloric deficit. If increased or decreased meal frequency were better for weight loss than the traditional 3 – 4 meals per day, then either of the two diets would have to affect one or both factors of weight loss.

To date, there is no evidence to suggest that increasing or decreasing meal frequency, independent of caloric reduction and weight loss, has any effects on energy expended due to structured exercise or non-exercise activity thermogenesis. However, it has been shown that reductions in bodyweight do promote an unconscious reduction in spontaneous activity and therefore a reduction in caloric expenditure. Thus, any diet that reduces bodyweight will likely produce a reduction in energy expended due to structured exercise and non-exercise activity thermogenesis, unless the person consciously compensates by increasing their training volume. Theoretically, if someone increases their meal frequency, it is conceivable that they may increase their non-exercise activity thermogenesis as a factor of preparing more food over the course of the day. Assuming that approximately 50 – 100 kcals are expended due to cooking, this could amount to a couple hundred extra calories burned over the course of 24 hr. However, this is completely speculative and most likely would have negligible effects on the overall caloric deficit from reducing caloric intake and a conscious increase in energy expended due to structured exercise.

Thus, the real question regarding meal frequency is, “which diet protocol most fits with each individual’s lifestyle and dietary preferences?” Nevertheless, whether an individual eats 1 – 3 times per day with prolonged fasts in between, or six or more meals spaced 2 – 3 hr apart, the effects on metabolism and fat loss will essentially be the same. Some aspects to consider when it comes to meal frequency are increased feelings of hunger with fewer meals during a hypocaloric diet and the possible increased feelings of hunger with a shift in feeding pattern from higher frequency to lower. Nevertheless, at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference and the individual’s fitness and performance goals.

Here's the back story - through my teens to late 20's I've always had a time to get over 150lbs and thought to not be able to get to 160 as a muscular aesthetic goal but with time after time research trial and error I ended up achieving that in my early 30's. Fast forward to 3 years ago I've been hovering around 165-168 and now making a goal to hit 180 by my birthday in August. I've been around friends that ranged from 180-220lbs and all teasing aside - about wishing they had my body at my current weight this and that while they sit ideal around their weight and not so muscular (and might I add that I'm a few years older than most of them)

On the other spectrum of the conversation, i too was telling them i wish I had their weight so i can be jacked up like them ( so it was funny conversations between the parties that would end up in a bunch of testosterone being thrown around) During my 165lbs days I was mainly focused on size and strength so my workout program was good ol fashion German volume 5x5 for about 6 months and then slowly tapered off it around the 9th month, which shot my weight up to 170lbs. During that time I was just pounding down the food like I haven't eaten for some time but I solely focused on protein intake more than i should have with the carbs and that's when I would sometimes develop gout on my big toe (common issue with too much protein at a time)

So I dialed back my nutrition accordingly to maintain my weight and physique, good for a few months but then the pandemic hit - no gym, no social life, declined work ethic and limited resources. Slowly my gains turned upside down and based most of my weight off water due to my nutrition and lack of activity, thought in months of dealing with the pandemic and Ontario lockdown measures, I still was able to get in some workouts during my work schedule. Fast forward to current events, I made a personal goal to face my fear of heights with the idea and notion to go skydiving on my birthday and figured since I'm jumping and small chance of dying that I should pack on a few pounds to ease the blow (funny right!)

No seriously, that was my decision to why I'm aiming for 180lbs - no other reason, I mean usually I guess it would be for beach season but by the way the world is shaping into, I don't foresee any beach opportunities this coming season. As of yesterday, I am hovering around 175lbs and got 3 months to hit 5 more pounds. One thing I can tell you that whomever is listening that is looking to pack on some mass is eating more ain't any easier than eating less.